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Scor questions moment...
1: Happy pride month!
2: Hottest mon/set/tech which u have tried and that worked fairly well?
3: Fave animal? :)
4: Fave food? (:
5: Any hella underrated mon which you want to try?
6: , or ? (Just picked three mons randomly).
1. Really funny moment/game was recent. AG Ghosting tour: round 2 - game 3. I'm in call with jerryl309 and lotiasite. Archiiiie17 is busy with IRL stuff. Our opponents pulled up with Lycan HO, a well-known team built by my really really good friend Kate. Already a great start. Kate passed me the paste of the team (it was an RMT it's legal!). I noted in the game chat that the Yvel was the wrong nature. Again, amazing. Fast forward a little, we lose the 50-50 at turn 29 and bring in our Ditto-Yvel at the end of turn 30. We thought we were going to have to win a Sucker/HC game in order to stay out of range of the Scarf Ogre Thunder. We quickly realized Kate's incorrectly natured Yveltal is actually going to be the reason Kyogre is able to guaranteed KO our Dyna Ditto-Yvel from whatever our health was at, regardless of Sucker roll. We also realized their Yvel had more Sucker PP than we had HC PP, due to Imposter. Game was over by that point, so we just decided to mess around for fun and maybe get them to mess up the Sucker. We decided we'd Dyna after our last HC. We use our last HC. Beginning of the next turn, lotiasite says in VC, "I can't Dyna." "What do you mean you can't Dyna?" "I physically can't Dyna." It turns out you need to be able to click a move to have the option to Dynamax. We die to Struggle a turn earlier than expected. Was such a fitting end to that game.
Scor questions moment...
1: Happy pride month!
2: Hottest mon/set/tech which u have tried and that worked fairly well?
3: Fave animal? :)
4: Fave food? (:
5: Any hella underrated mon which you want to try?
6: , or ? (Just picked three mons randomly).
2.
Zygarde-10% @ Choice Band
Ability: Aura Break
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Thousand Arrows
- Extreme Speed
- Outrage
- Toxic
You thought it was banned, but Exodia returned! Way frailer than Zyg-50, but faster and way cuter. Just don't run into Tangrowth or Slowbro. Rilla is way easier to wear down than Bulu too, which is neat.
3. Goats! Deer, reindeer, and horses are also cute. Ungulates in general are adorbs.
4. Curry! Thai Green is the best, but I'm trying to find a recipe for this vaguely described South Indian curry that I had recently that way amazing! I'm also a sucker for quesadillas.
5. Lots! Going to try to play a bit more after the quarter ends and a quick vacay for Pride. DD MTar, NP Gengar, and NP Thund-T in particular for ND look hella cool and underrated. Z Jirachi is always so good to use in ND UU as well. No such thing as a bad match-up for that mon.
Someone knows what they're talking about LOL. I'm psure I beat you during hoopa suspect with z jirachi twice and then you started using it as well rofl. What are you thoughts on prim in NDUU?
Someone knows what they're talking about LOL. I'm psure I beat you during hoopa suspect with z jirachi twice and then you started using it as well rofl. What are you thoughts on prim in NDUU?
It's so good and aesthetic! I don't think that was me but I don't totally remember lol. The only person I remember losing to twice was this person running like Perish Trap MAlt Balance and playing absolutely out of their mind.
Prim is really good! I'm not the biggest fan of Specs (I never predict right lol), but Sub CM is amazing.
I actually have a history of anxiety, depression, and ADD with panic and anxiety attacks. Finally started treatment in December for the anxiety and March for the ADD. Receiving mental health treatment is still super stigmatized, in my opinion, when it shouldn't be. People matter. To anyone reading this, if you feel like something is going wrong and nothing is working, please reach out to somebody that can help.
I'm a millennial, so I have my phone on me at all times lol. I sometimes forget to turn off push notifications for threads I've posted in, so I'll get a notification on my phone. It takes like five seconds to drop a like. Then I'll forget to disable notifications for the thread again, and the cycle repeats.
Hello everyone, today I'll be interviewing the esteemed knower of OMs and ND, 23Gz!
How are you today, 23gz?
I'm good, been a busy week nevertheless.
Haha, been like that for me too, what with school and all that.
What do you do outside of Smogon?
Currently I am looking to get into college as of right now, as for my free time I usually just play COD and Showdown.
What do you plan on doing in college once you get there?
That's the part I've never been sure of, right now I'm possibly looking into music production but I haven't started anywhere unfortunately.
Music production huh... very interesting I must admit. Shifting gears a bit, what are you most known for in the ND community?
Hm...I'd have to say spamming an mlatias team on ladder and being part of the OM community, but that's probably it.
How did you get into National Dex? Were you mainly an OM player until you heard of the tier?
I kind of really liked Mega Sableye so I played NDUU ladder a lot since Mega Sableye was allowed at the time, but when it rose to NDOU I just shifted to the tier then. I actually got into om mashups before natdex or om's though, from past experience in the room.
Jumping back to OU, what do you like the most about the format?
I would say that balance and stall are in a bit of a comfortable place, almost nothing seems broken at the moment with the meta overall since Magearna was removed from the tier. I also love the Megas, could care less for the Z's somewhat.
Hm yeah, I think the metagame right now is very stable. But I must ask, are there any mons you feel make the meta particularly unenjoyable?
Honestly Chazm has been pestering everyone about Mega Garchomp and lately it's actually been really irritating to deal with. Typical soft checks for grounds like Clefable just stop working because it's just so strong (2hkos unaware clef if ada) and scale shot makes it a lot harder to revenge and it has definitely impacted my building.
do you think there are any mons that are over/underrated right now in the metagame?
I would like to say mew is underexplored as a defensive psychic that has been getting more attention recently. It now has access to spikes which can make it a lot more plausible on hazard stacking balances along with burning physical attackers and answering grounds or heatran with beam or quake. Think I saw colbur with wisp as a nice lure for dark types as well whuch is neat. Honestly don't have an opinion on any overrated mons at the moment.
Colbur in general is a pretty sweet tech on stuff like mew and gking. Anyways, what do you like most about the community?
I like that the community (i know, anyway) is pretty friendly and helpful when it comes to building teams, shoutout to you all!
Shoutouts to you too :] What is your favorite Pokemon and kind of team to use in National Dex?
My favorite Pokemon would probably have to be Clefable, really just a utility machine and you can kinda make it do whatever you want on a team. As for the type of team, I kind of just prefer to stick to clex corv water cores, with Mlati as a wincon which allows me to play safe pretty often.
Mind showing me an example of that kind of structure?
This is actually an old sample of Guardsweeper's I picked up and quickly became acquainted with. Latias is a very potent wincon in National Dex with aura sphere to deter its pursuiter's this gen, so it's a natural pick for me. The 4 mons in clefable gliscor corv and pex form a really solid defensive core that's able to sit on a good amount of the meta. Weavile forms sort of a glue with the team, providing pursuit speed control and another mon to remove items. The synergy between corv and mlati + weavile is perfect as it gives the team a chance vs offensive threats it cant handle such as mchomp and specs lele locked into psychic once corv is weakened. I'm currently looking into certain variations of this team like MudkipBeans's variant with zone and gastro, but this has been pretty reliable for me.
God I love Weavile fat
Any last things you'd like to leave us with?
Shoutouts to Krooks, ND OM and OMM communities, #BLM, #PrideMonth
We would like to thank 23Gz for their time! Feel free to leave them any of your burning questions!
hi gz, I'm your number 1 fan!
tbh mega sableye seems like such a good mon, but a lot of times it just dies when I use it. Any tips?
How likely do you think national dex will steal weavile from NDUU before it can be banned (aka how long will ladder take to catch on)? Opinions on whether to suspect weavile or glowking first?
1. How's the weather where you're from (in general)?
2. What is your favourite OM that you've had the pleasure to play in (other than ND, if that's relevant)?
3. Got any anime recommendations?
4. Lately I keep hearing complaints about Rilla, and RillaZone in particular being able to pick apart some unsuspecting teams. What good stop measures are there to deal with it, that you maybe personally prefer?
5. Cats or dogs?
Hey R8!
1. My name is based off the rapper 22Gz because I was liking his music at the time I rejoined showdown.
2. Honestly I like the way I can play Weavile aggresively to win certain mus along with the team having a pretty nice defensive core. Latias is just a really fun wincon that is very well enabled by these sort of cores, you sort of have to protect from status without heal bell but it just kinds feels nice to use.
hi gz, I'm your number 1 fan!
tbh mega sableye seems like such a good mon, but a lot of times it just dies when I use it. Any tips?
How likely do you think national dex will steal weavile from NDUU before it can be banned (aka how long will ladder take to catch on)? Opinions on whether to suspect weavile or glowking first?
Heya Aiwla, usually it's nice to keep yourself healthy at times over trying to spam knock/wisp as it becomes very vulnerable to chip/volt turn which opens the team more easily to offensive rockers.
Weavile is still a strong pick in ndou but ladder probably will not steal before it gets banned from nduu :(
And Weavile puts more pressure on teams than glowking imo, while glowking has centered itself as a nice wincon Weavile provides so much utility and offensive presence to a team in NDUU making it really awkward to answer at times.
1. How's the weather where you're from (in general)?
2. What is your favourite OM that you've had the pleasure to play in (other than ND, if that's relevant)?
3. Got any anime recommendations?
4. Lately I keep hearing complaints about Rilla, and RillaZone in particular being able to pick apart some unsuspecting teams. What good stop measures are there to deal with it, that you maybe personally prefer?
5. Cats or dogs?
Howdy Ava
1.HOOOOOOT. AZ is very hot.
2. I think the favorite might be the one I currently am council on, Bonus Type. Gotta love when I can slap Flying type on Heatran. Honourable mention to STAAABmons (mashup) as well love that format too.
3. I don't watch anime unfortunately I don't even know why I have this pfp lmao
4. Checks not trapped by Zone like Zapdos Volc Kommo Amoong Venu typically shine in this department, although I will admit that a lot of teams I've seen rely on Corv or Msciz solely as the Rilla check usually just get absolutely demolished. Secondary grass resists on these types of teams typically will do the trick if you want to fix the mu, or add Volcarona/more resists on your offense.
5. Dogs...I've had a pitbull before and will probably get another down the road. Just not really a cat person imo.
Hello all, back with another POTW, this time featuring the peoples' room driver and avid artist, emillight!
Hi, emillight! How are you?
Hey, not much. School year's done for me so I can semi-relax for about 3 months now lol. Just finding projects to do
hm yeah so close for me as well
What do you do outside of Smogon?
Well, I'm a full-time high school art teacher. I co-manage the art department, actually. Most of the courses are studio art and fundamentals, that type of stuff, but I also do things like art history. Other than my job, I enjoy reading manga, watching anime, drawing, playing old franchises like Final Fantasy, really whatever I'm in the mood for and whenever I want to pass the time.
based artist god
What are you most known for inside the National Dex community?
Can't say for sure, but I'd like to think most people see me as the hazard stack nerd of NatDex, and is mostly what I build. I've taken many opportuinities since becoming a driver to make fun tours for the room (which many may or may not have been terribly chaotic LOL).
Yeah, I swear thats all you build KEK
Speaking of that, how did you get into ND?
I first got back into PS! as a whole about a year ago, early January 2020. I never found the OU meta super interesting so I explored NatDex. All I did mostly was do fun things with a friend of mine, where we just made gym leader teams and had fun lol. Theme teams were exclusive to what I built for the most part. I dropped PS! around mid-2020 to deal with stuff and resurfaced about a year after starting again, in January 2021. I thought the serious meta looked fun (besides the broken horse) and figured I could try my hand at hazard stack in NatDex (never touched it since like gen 5). The rest is history.
Hm Ic, a lot more extensive than I thought it was going to be. What's your favourite part of the format and community?
I think the best part for me is the overall flexibility of the tier. As technically an extension of USUM, not having Dexit definitely allowed many types of teams branch and evolve from previous sets and team concepts and turned it into a very interesting tier. The best players and builders are often the friendliest ever since I entered the tier and have been nothing short of good people.
How do you feel about the current state of ND? Are there any problem mons you'd like to talk about?
I think after Cinderace and Magearna got banned, the meta was finally able to settle offensively and defensively and left room for more exploration. I disagree with most people who say the meta has gotten too fat. I think that there's plenty of viable offensive builds, (Tapu Koko offense comes to mind), but I can definitely say that bulky offense is the most prolific at the moment. Segueing into that, I think (and many others have cried said) Mega Garchomp is the most problematic mon in this meta. It is an offensive beast that can eat up so many teams with two turns to set up, not a hard feat due to its natural bulk and consistency on screens hyper offense. I thought it was a sign that when people started running Galar Weezing Stall, something's wrong.
Definitely agree with that sentiment, no one is running Galar-Weez outside of checking M-chomp. As much as they'd like to think otherwise the mon is flat-out broken and has little to no counterplay besides a few select cores that need to keep their r-killer alive to deal with it, or pressure it just enough to where the 2 turns you'd have to give it never come. Which is what most teams rely on to deal with it anyway, out offensing the chomp player and all that.
Moving on, are there any Pokemon you don’t think are rated enough / rated too highly?
Yeah, Dragonite to S+ There's a few that I've really liked that are lower ranked. Galar Slowking has been really fun as a roleplayer in my hazard stacks with its very nice ability to pressure Fairy-types like Magic Guard Clefable, who can really sit on stacks without too much care. Another one is Mew, who is also a Spikes-setter and also has a very fun niche in a Mega Garchomp meta, where Weavile is seeing a lot of usages. Colbur Berry sets can cripple threats and the partners they are supporting, and Mewnium Z can catch people off guard, again, very fun.
You've talked about how much you adore spikes stack (can't blame you really), mind showing me a team or two as an example?
This team is probably my most consistent stack at the moment and is actually a current submission for samples (fingers crossed). This is also where I explored Galar Slowking, since before adding it, Clefable and Tapu Fini really sat on the team. Mega Diancie is such a good member for hazard stack as it compresses a Stealth Rocker, hazard control, and Defog pressure all in one. Love that its seeing a bunch more usage lately. I have quite a few other experimental builds with stuff like Galar Zapdos and No-Earthquake Dragonite but so far no dice in terms of success lmao.
Any last things you want to leave us with?
It ain't gen 5 anymore, but y'all better permeate DragMag and hazard stack throughout Natdex! This is The Way. Lastly, I intend to turn every single NatDex staff into some sort of anime girl. I've already done Avery, so watch out, my friends. >:333
(omi note: Unfortunately they are not joking about this)
We would like to thank emillight for their time. Leave 'em questions if you like.
1. very good, young padawan, this world needs more stacks
2. idk ask some people and they'll say cool is a synonym for eccentric when it comes to me xpp
3. thanks for the praise but that's just what happens when you draw anime girls for 10 years KEK
4. i am personally loving mew atm as a spiker due to its endless utility. being able to be diverse in defensive capabilities for the backbone of the team is quite nice too. chesnaught i havent tried before but at first glance, not sure! not too big a fan of its ability to really only check a defogger in kartana, but maybe it has some potential
5. im the last person to ask lol. dont look up my old replays ><
i would say its probably be a tie between berserk and the first half of death note (second half of manga was leagues better than the butchered anime but near still sucks ://). one piece id consider if i could actually get through the filler lol
1. i started drawing early like most people but didnt rlly start taking it seriously and studying my favorite artists and all that until i was about 13...? around that. most of my inspiration was just watching shows and anime, admiring the art of my other family.
2. my name is super simple lol. theres no real backstory with it; i just thought it sounded nice. for some reason i rlly like "e" names so first thing i thought of was bbg emilia
(ik right?? im very simple :))
pulled a cool suffix of light and there you have it
, 
or 
? (Just picked three mons randomly).
GO TA
